PUNCH DRUNK

So did you see the spot where the nice kid in the Hollywood Video store keeps getting punched in the face until he's practically unconscious? It's a riot! How about the Airwalk spot where this dude loses an arm and a leg? Man, we laughed until we cried. Finding humor in violence is not easy, but when it's done right, an instant classic may result. Think Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the part in which a feisty knight has all his limbs hacked off by an increasingly reluctant adversary). Think Ben Stiller's privates caught in a zipper in Something About Mary. Then think Cliff Freeman & Partners' spots, as well as a good number of videogame ads. The new Freeman campaign for Hollywood Video had us giggling like Cheech and Chong on nitrous oxide. The spots explore the difference between movies and real life, so the kid getting punched in the nose is the victim of a friend who tries, unsuccessfully, to throw make-believe punches, like a Tinseltown stuntman. If that wasn't enough, the agency does it again with its campaign for Fox Sports (see the Review). Who knew that a guy being kicked by a horse could be so entertaining?

Yet, these are not callous spots, and that's quite an accomplishment. It takes hard work for this kind of humor to click. The script, the direction, the acting and the editing all have to be perfect. Otherwise, a bit of black comedy can easily turn into an ineffective commercial that draws yawns or indignation, not guffaws. And for advertiser and agency, that just wouldn't be funny.

In a campaign for its new Big Pocket jeans for boys and flare jeans for girls, Old Navy finally goes young. Much to our joy-joy, it brings Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi back into the mainstream from his animation self-exile on the Web. In our favorite two cel-animated :30s, some kids struggle with camping equipment while the Big Pocket boy causally whips a trailer out of his pants. Is that a motor home in your big pocket or are you just happy to see me?

The heart sees all, but sometimes it needs help. Three posters running in Dallas show some unusual situations that require glasses in one hour. In another execution, we meet Stan and the nice street punks who no longer call him "Four-eyes."

Too bad the Family Robinson didn't have one of these. A new print campaign for the old Army Knife laughs with the Swiss, not at them. The copy reads: "Cutting a loose thread. Tightening a screw. Slicing a well-aged cheese to accompany wine. In Switzerland, it's natural to be equipped for the task at hand. And if someone here is found to be lacking the right tool, it only means he's a tourist."

So if it's for ironmen, why is there a parrot on the label? Oliver Breweries, which specializes in "British-style" ale, is now selling Oliver Ironman Pale Ale in bottles as well as on draft. The brewery is in Baltimore, but since it's British-style, a twist-off cap was apparently out of the question.

The latest entry in the growing category of medical humor is "Nobody's Talking," for Yale-New Haven Hospital. Poor old Max is sitting around with his ancient cronies doing all he can to get a good geriatric gripe going -- to no avail. "Stan, your back still bothering you?" he queries with glee, his smile fading as Stan replies, "Nope, never." After a few other seniors insist they're feeling great, Max goes home, grumbling, "We've got nothing to talk about." How about the high price of Viagra?

With stringent TV restrictions, how do you make a commercial for Tobacco Road convenience stores? A little Louisville shop named Red7e (don't ask) answers the question with clever dirt-cheap comedy spots that run in Kentucky and Indiana. They neatly skirt the tobacco issue by opening with a deadpan VO: "At Tobacco Road, we can't talk about some of the products we sell. So now, for your viewing pleasure . . . kittens." Cut to 25 seconds of cutesy-poo stock footage. In another spot we get cheesy film of the world's worst lounge singer.

Based around the fictitious Ephemera Society of Crumple Island, Georgia Pacific Proterra papers get a treatment worthy of long-term preservation, in this new promotion from Leslie Evans Design Associates. The Proterra Letterhead Guide is in the form of a collection of invitations and responses to attend "An Event on the Island of Crumple," and the designs and illustrations are so beautiful we really wanted to go.

Three stripes and you're in. Leagas Delaney/San Francisco touts the return of the classic Adidas basketball shoe with vintage photos of what may or may not be the ABA. They aren't saying. At any rate, as copywriter Scott Wild puts it, "there's not a swoosh in sight." Don't worry, the technology is new, with "EVA cushioning" and "Torsion technology" -- it's just the look that's retro. Another decidedly '90s take on the shoe: it comes in women's sizes.

Maybe they have a new model called the Airhop. Lambesis gives Airwalk a much-needed kick in the funnybone with an Xtreemly violent new spot called "The Chase." Our hero, a resourceful youngster, is being followed by some nasty guy in a big car. Unfortunately, he's pinned in an alley and he loses a couple of limbs to the vicious vehicle, though he never bleeds. The good news is, it doesn't really seem to bother him. He even manages to use his loose leg to reach a fire escape ladder and pull himself to safety. We laughed till our heads fell off.

Two new hilarious spots from DDB Needham/Dallas, for a videogame called NFL Blitz, have a good time with the tagline, "No refs, no rules, no mercy." In "Target Practice" we see a player firing some wicked passes. Then we see what he's aiming at, and hitting -- the marching band. In "Training Table," we learn that "Blitz players don't pump iron, they have it for breakfast." Cut to big guys slurping up iron chains like spaghetti. One guy starts hacking up something caught in his throat, which turns out be a fist-sized chunk of metal. "Chew your food!" his teammate ribs.

Pretty enough to wear, just not in the rain. Bartle Bogle Hegarty has launched three beautiful new executions for Pears soap, to run in U.K. magazines. The copyline here: "The world's most desired objects are judged by their purity and clarity. Funny that." The campaign continues the "Carvings" motif, which earlier featured a water tap and pears, the fruit. This time out we're also treated to a droplets of water and feathers. The visuals are 3-D resin models and all the typography is hand-set.

Everything's half-price if you have a handlebar mustache -- with real handlebars! A new direct mail campaign for the Wild Rose bike shop in Salt Lake City focuses on the joys and monetary rewards of bike-related mutilation. Another piece offers, "15% off bike parts if you show us your hamburger knee."

In a new TV campaign for Hollywood Video, Cliff Freeman & Partners rolls out the big comedy gun for another round of knee-slapping magnum farce. In "Action," we see a cowboy trying to teach two clerks how to throw a fake punch. Unfortunately for the punchee, even after three tries, the puncher just can't seem to pull back in time. As the beating ensues, the patrons of the store look on in confusion. In another spot, a professional announcer crawls out from under the counter every time a customer asks what a movie's about and proceeds to offer a dramatic reading of the box copy.

Lucky thing he didn't notice all the foul tips that hit the hood. A guy is relaxing in his Barcalounger when a series of dull thuds gets his attention. He anxiously peers out the window to see a bunch of kids playing baseball on his front lawn. "Oh, no!" he screams as the thud is revealed to be the ball repeatedly hitting the door of his Saturn, which is doing duty as a backstop. He races downstairs in a frenzy, grabs the bat out of a kid's hands and yells, "Your stance is all wrong!" Saturn's got "Easy to maintain, dent-resistant doors," you see.

It looks great projected on the ceiling of an igloo. The Martin Agency, in temperate Virginia, has a new print campaign that highlights all the dangers that went into the very cold filming of the IMAX movie Everest. The copy here reads, "There's only one thing more dangerous than climbing Mt. Everest. Filming a movie while climbing Mt. Everest." Another headline: "Budget for special effects: $0.00. Budget for First Aid: $160,000."